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I think the article should begin with chemical and physical information about potassium cyanide, instead of opening by saying that it's the most common instrument of suicide. (Incidentally, if anyone can cite statistics supporting this claim, that would help.)
rajneesh 06:12, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
According to Suicide, sourced from [1], in the US firearms are by far the most common method of suicide & four times more common than the next. After that, it lists asphyxia, hanging, drug overdose, carbon monoxide poisoning, jumping from height, stabbing or exsanguination, and drowning. In the Republic of Congo, where firearms are less readily available, the most common method among 15-24 year olds is hanging, followed by firearms, followed by motor vehicle exhaust, followed by poisoning (all methods) [2]. And so on. Obviously methods will vary somewhat from one country to another, but this claim doesn't seem to be even remotely true, so I've removed it along with some accompanying material that seemed equally spurious. -- Calair 03:39, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Was cyanide really 'commonly used as rat poison'? I know there's an anti-smoking ad out there mentioning the presence of cyanide in rat poison, but AFAIK most poisons are based on anticoagulants, heavy metals, or strychnine. -- Calair 00:03, 13 May 2005 (UTC)
Citation for the alleged antidotal effect of glucose? Quite apart from cake icing mostly being sucrose, it looks chemically nonsense to me. I suspect it's a misinterpretation of texts (eg [3] and [4]) reporting that glucose reduces the toxicity of dicobalt edetate when the latter is used as a cyanide antidote. RayGirvan 20:20, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
IPCS/CEC refers to amyl nitrite as a potential antidote [9], whereas the HSE discusses amyl nitrate [10]. Are amyl nitrate and nitrite both in use as CN- antidotes, or has one of these sources goofed? -- Calair 23:52, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The toxicology section at cyanide now seems to be in a state to receive the information which is here and relates to cyanides in general. Does anyone object to me merging across this material? I would leave a short paragraph mentioning that KCN is poisonous as are all alkali cyanides and directing the reader to cyanide for more information. Physchim62 18:02, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
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I have a few questions maybe someone can help
If cyanide and carbon monoxide inhibit the same protein complex on the electron transport chain then would the clinical presentations be the same? If so why do we treat carbon monoxide poisoning different then cyanide poisoning?
Anybody know how you'd find Potassium Cyanide (KCN) around the house? I need it for a lab experiment. March 6, 2006
Well, guess what? I got a hold of it :)
Anyway, encyclopedia needs data about how to obtain various substances otherwise it would be either incomplete or censored. Potassium (or any other alkali metal) cyanide could be synthesized by direct reaction between hydroxide (KOH in this case) and hydrocyanic acid. Is there a more effective way ? - Yyy 10:24, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
First I want to say that I'm not a depressed person or anything like that. It was a promiss, and about honour.
God sake!
For about a half year ago I took potassium cyanide. It had a good effect. I begun deep and fast breathing and lost contions after about a minutte.
I woke up at a hospitale. It was a miracle.
Yesterday and the day before yestarday I took the same amount again (ca 1 gram), but it had almost no effect at all. I was just deep and fast breathing for about half a minutte.
Is it possible that they have given me some kind of vaccine?
I work on a lab so the quality were about 99% for all tree cases, but the first atemt was from a other container, can that bee the reason?
I stord the KCN for the two last atempt at me room in a good isolated sample glass for tree mouth, but can it have been oxidated anyway?
Or am I just not supposed to die? I think so...
Well, I think it depends, how much did you take? If you took like, a tablespoon the first time, and just a miligram the second time, then that makes sense... Or, maybe your body just rejected it.
I reverted these edits because it looks suspiciously like copyvio, and because the material is inaccurate. For instance, it claims: "Nobody has ever lived to tell the tale — how does potassium cyanide taste?" This is false, as is the claim of instant death; there have been quite a few cases of people who ingested cyanide and survived for days afterwards, some eventually making a full recovery after treatment.
See e.g. this article, with case reports including this one: "A 54-year-old man ingested 3 g potassium cyanide and arrived in hospital unconscious and with respiratory arrest. The patient was resuscitated and 12 g of sodium thiosulfate was given intravenously... After 30 min the patient breathed spontaneously, after 90 min he moved his extremities and eyes, and after 6 h he was fully alert. No sequelae were observed." -- Calair 00:10, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
Not much to say here because KCN, due to its annoying toxicity, is not usually employed in a laboratory. It is a pain to handle and NaCN can usually be used instead (cheaper and slightly less toxic) So its a bit of an irrelevant article Stui 21:12, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
Is this really relevant or useful to anyone who didn't look up 'potassium cyanide' without the intention to learn about minutiae from random video games/films?
Well, Some one told me in my chemistry class that if potassium cyanied touches your blood or got mixed with it due to some kind of wound, it start crystalizing your blood and you will die ????? was it a romur or is it true ??? wanna know that really if we got potassium cynaide got mixed with our blood due to some wound, do it harm that much that a person can die ????
Mohammad Adil
19:39, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
In the infobox on the right, what does "solubility in other solvents" mean? What kind of "other solvents"?
And also, I find that 71.6 g/100 ml is actually the solubility in water. See:
-- Quest for Truth ( talk) 19:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
I noticed this discussion (and its other half) and decided to reinvestigate the structure of KCN, a compound I had tried to draw the structure of a while ago. The problem is that the cyanide ions are constantly rotating, so it is difficult to represent the structure. Short of creating some sort of fuzzy ion, the best option is to represent the cyanide ion as a sphere, as shown below.
The drawback to this approach is that it needs explanation, and may confuse readers who are not familiar with the structure of the cyanide ion.
Perhaps such an image would be best placed in a section on the structure of KCN, where the disorder could be discussed. If the image went in the infobox, it would be difficult to ensure readers had seen the accompanying explanation.
Ben ( talk) 17:58, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
I think this discussion could form the basis of a nice subsection on structure! The paper I got the coordinates from is given on the image description page. I really should get a copy of Wells, but it's out of print. Auschulz is just the sort of reader would appreciate a discussion of structure in this article.
Season's greetings!
Ben ( talk) 23:42, 30 December 2008 (UTC)
{{
cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link).The photo of the KCN crystals is shown against a Euro 1 cent piece and what appears to be the tip of a writing device. People outside the EU may not be able to discern the size of the sample shown. Suggest using a photo with the crystal sample against a measurement device such as a ruler.
173.62.183.174 ( talk) 21:23, 8 April 2010 (UTC)
I am a highschool chemistry teacher, and I found this in the supply closet. It has never been opened. The other chemistry teacher and I had no idea on what its used would be in a high school classroom. Is it something that needs to be removed? I did not notice it on the state band list. A cracked bottle of Bromine was found in the closet the year before I was hired (there has been a new chemistry teacher every year for a while) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.143.178.136 ( talk) 17:33, 16 October 2010 (UTC)
Not really the best place to ask. This page is for discussing improvements to the article. But since you did... If you aren't confidant of using it (and you don't sound confidant), you probably should get a contractor to haul it away. See
[11],
[12],
[13]. --
Rifleman 82 (
talk)
18:47, 16 October 2010 (UTC)
I was amazed to see that the hazardous effects of inhalation, ingestion and absorption do not include death. (In the linked MSDS.)
I consider this so irresponsible that I am removing the link. I understand that this is debatable, since the SDS is by a pseudo-government body (International Programme on Chemical Safety) But it does not meet the basic requirement of properly notifying reader of potential hazard - death qualifies, don't you think? This is the link I removed:
http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics0671.htm. I spent several minutes looking for another authoritative MSDS, but didn't find one, sorry. A bit further inquiry indicates even via dermal absorption, a couple of milliliters of saturated NaCN could be fatal (assuming toxic response is same as in rabbits on a per kg basis)
72.172.11.228 (
talk)
23:10, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
I have seen this sentence in this article "The moist solid emits small amounts of hydrogen cyanide due to hydrolysis, which tastes like bitter almonds". But this statement does not have any citation. So either it should be removed or the author should cite it properly with reference. Abhilashkrishn ( talk) 14:03, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
Visually, does anyone know of a reliable picture for potassium cyanide crystals (ie: What they actually look like) that can be placed onto the Wikipedia page? Are Potassium Cyanide crystals distinctive in some way? If you look at :
http://bioprepwatch.com/stories/510507628-chemist-sentenced-for-potassium-cyanide-possession
You see a picture that states it is a picture of potassium cyanide:
https://jnswire.s3.amazonaws.com/jns-media/57/f5/49204/potassiumcyanide.png
Can anyone visually verify that this picture is of Potassium Cyanide. If so, what features does Potassium Cyanide have that enable it to be tested VISUALLY?
It is said that Potassium Cyanide produces Hydrogen Cyanide, with the Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) smelling of "bitter almonds" WHEN it is added to acids or acid salts (according to www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad61.htm). So this can be used as a test of Potassium Cyanide.
Otherwise, how would one visually inspect a Potassium Cyanide crystal to make sure it is Potassium Cyanide? ASavantDude ( talk) 18:51, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
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In this article:
A number of prominent persons were killed or committed suicide using potassium cyanide, including members of the Young Bosnia and famous personalities in the Third Reich, such as Erwin Rommel, Hitler's longtime companion Eva Braun, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Hermann Göring.
In Cyanide poisoning article:
Cyanide, in the form of pure liquid prussic acid (a historical name for hydrogen cyanide), was the favored suicide agent of the Third Reich. It was used to commit suicide by Erwin Rommel (1944), after being accused of conspiring against Hitler; Adolf Hitler's wife, Eva Braun (1945); and by Nazi leaders Heinrich Himmler (1945), possibly Martin Bormann (1945), and Hermann Göring (1946).
-- Inconexo ( talk) 12:05, 4 August 2017 (UTC)
The article contained the following lines in the section about KCN toxicity:
[Potassium cyanide's] toxicity when ingested depends on the acidity of the stomach, because it must react with an acid to become hydrogen cyanide, the deadly form of cyanide. Grigori Rasputin may have survived a potassium cyanide poisoning because his stomach acidity was unusually low.
The source for these claims was cited as John Emsley's The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison, a pop science book. Emsley's book does contain this brief mention of potassium cyanide, which is buried in the middle of a much lengthier discussion of mercury cyanide:
That Barnett did not immediately die of cyanide poisoning can be attributed either to the fact that the solution [of mercury cyanide] he drank was not acidic, or that his stomach contents weren't. This latter state of affairs is very rare, but not unknown, and indeed it had saved the infamous Russian monk, Rasputin, who survived an attempt to poison him with potassium cyanide in 1916. The deadly form of cyanide is hydrogen cyanide (HCN) which requires acid for its formation.
Emsley does not provide any sources for these remarkable claims, which are highly implausible.
Brkkp ( talk) 19:18, 13 October 2018 (UTC)
The reference to John B McLemore and 'S-Town' are fictional and do not belong here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.9.244.28 ( talk) 10:50, 8 October 2021 (UTC)
As a lay person I had much difficulty understanding the technical terms in article. It would be helpful if technical jargon was parenthetically defined in lay language. Hyperlinks are fine, but many times the landing article is just as technical as the original one. Scottinkga ( talk) 13:11, 19 August 2023 (UTC)